A Virginia House Committee Tables Legislation to Legalize Retail Cannabis Sales

A Virginia House Committee Tables Legislation to Legalize Retail Cannabis Sales

WRIC says, a House panel in Virginia voted against bills that would have moved the state toward letting adults buy cannabis. The General Laws subcommittee voted against a bill that would have let sales start next year and another that would have let the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority (CCA) start giving out licenses next year but not let sales start until 2025.

In 2021, when Democrats ran both houses of the legislature and the governor’s office, Virginia lawmakers changed the law so that adults could use cannabis. Since then, people have fought against the laws. In 2022, Republicans gained seats in both chambers, and Virginians chose Republican Glenn Youngkin to be governor.

The bill proposed by Del. Keith Hodges (R) would have let licenses be given out at the beginning of next year, but only certain medical cannabis companies would have been able to sell to adults in July. A replacement was put forward that said the CCA should draft rules for the retail market that lawmakers would have to agree to.

The bill proposed by Republican Del. Michael J. Webert would have let the CCA give out licenses for cannabis in 2024, but sales to adults wouldn’t have been allowed until the following year. Webert told the committee that his bill would make it possible to track cannabis “from seed to sale,” set limits on THC, and tax cannabis sales at a rate of 12%.

Currently, adults in Virginia who are 21 or older can have up to an ounce of cannabis, grow up to four plants, get cannabis as a gift, or buy it at a medical dispensary, according to a report by Ganjapreneur.

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